The Indiana Statesman Blog
January 31st, 2007
The eSpot for Jan. 31
By on January 31st, 2007
Well, it’s been a spell since the eSpot showed its pretty little head. It’s back, and your life is once again complete
Results of ‘Top Chef’ finale leaked early
Spoilers abound as news breaks of one of the chefs quitting his day job before tonight’s denouement. We could tell you right now. Really.
The Associated Press’ cool younger sibling
This isn’t new, we think, but it’s the first we’ve stumbled across it.
Abso-frickin-amazing. Wire news for the short attention span set.
Rather adult pictures of Daniel Radcliffe, the actor who plays everyone’s favorite boy wizard, have found their way to the ‘Net. They’re not from a sex tape, but publicity stills from a play he’s doing in England. Women and horses are involved, though.
January 24th, 2007
1-24 ISU v. Evansville Men’s Bball postgame
By on January 24th, 2007
I apologize for not having a pregame and halftime blog. There was a miscommunication between my editor and I.
Anyway, this was one of the sloppiest games I’ve ever seen. Evansville narrowly defeated ISU 50-49. The only good offensive statistic in this game was Evansville’s three-point field goal percentage. The Purple Aces won this game solely because they shot 41 percent from beyond the arc.
ISU’s offense lacked any sort of consistency in this game. Shot selection was, to put it nicely, less-than-stellar.
When I asked ISU head coach Royce Waltman if anything positive can be taken from the game, he interrupted me mid-sentence and simply said “No.”
If there is anything positive that can be taken, in my opinion, it is the play of Adam Arnold. He ended up with 11 rebounds, eight of them defensive. If it weren’t for Arnold crashing the boards, this game probably wouldn’t have been close. ISU did outrebound UE 33-28, but when you have no offense, that really doesn’t matter.
ISU shot just 36 percent from the field, and when the majority of your offense revolves around the outside shooting game, that simply won’t cut it.
Well, that is all for now, and I apologize again for not having the first two blogs.
January 22nd, 2007
The eSpot for Jan. 22
By on January 22nd, 2007
Jenna Bush looks to ink book deal
Profits from the First Kid’s book would go to charity. It’s probably better than letting her spend it on… umm…. Yeah, about that.
Chicago, Indianapolis Fans React to Sunday’s game
Apparently, there are some people on this Internet thing that take football pretty seriously.
Has Carrot Top had work done?
Speculation abounds regarding the possibility of Top’s face lift. Did they use a Carrot peeler?
Three Words: New. Wilco. Album
Jeff Tweedy’s favorite band plans to release a new album May 15. Pretentious music fans everywhere rejoice.
January 19th, 2007
GAMETIME! women’s basketball v. Illinois State 1-19-07
By on January 19th, 2007
The Sycamores lost 89-81.
The Sycamores gave up 50 points in the first half and scored 50 points in the second half. The difference in scoring was that the Sycamores scored 39 points in the first half as opposed to Illinois State’s 39 in the second half.
Head coach Jim Wiedie was obviously displeased with the team’s effort and wondered when the team will mature to the point to where the team does not need to get down by 23 points for the light to come on and the team to play well.
The Sycamores shot 77 shots in the game, which was 15 more than the Redbirds and they made three fewer shots.
Both teams had five scorers in double figures. For the Sycamores it was: senior center Rachel Maenpaa with 17, junior center Laura Rudolphi with 18, junior guard Angela Phillips with 15, sophomore guard Annie Bankhead with 11 and sophomore guard Leah Phillips with 12. Maenpaa made eight of her 27 shots from the field for a field goal percentage of 29.6 percent.
To me it seemed like Redbird forward Nicolle Lewis ended up on the ground after every play. Sure, some of those falls were warranted, but I felt like she was trying to get calls by flopping. I bet her elbows are bruised.
Also, the Illinois State bench was rather annoying. They kept cheering after shots even when the team was up by 20 in the first half. It just seems like bad sportsmanship to me. I understand them getting excited when the Redbirds made a shot in the second half that could potentially put the game on ice. Maybe they just wanted some face time for FSN Midwest.
5,588 people attended the game. Nice.
The next game I will be blogging from is Wednesday’s men’s basketball game at home against the Evansville Purple Aces.
-Ben Corn
January 19th, 2007
GAMETIME! Women’s basketball v. Illinois State 1-19-07 pregame
By on January 19th, 2007
I will not be able to blog at halftime due to laptop problems and my post-game blog will take longer than usual to post because of the same problem.
The Sycamores are playing the Illinois State Redbirds who are 6-0 in conference play and the top team in the standings. I don’t think I have to say it, but this is going to be a tough game for ISU.
The Sycamores were hitting on all cylinders last game, so they should be able to ride the momentum from their 96-63 shellacking of the Wichita State Shockers. That’s right, I used the word “shellacking.”
I still think the strategy for beating the Sycamores is to shut down the perimeter shooting and take care of the ball.
All tickets for this game are going to be $1.00 each. This should help attendance. Hey, you can’t beat a night’s worth of entertainment for a buck.
If the Sycamores are able to win this game, it will go a long way in helping them climbing the standings and gaining confidence.
Check back after the game for my impressions,
Ben Corn
January 18th, 2007
Men’s basketball at Drake 1-18-07
By on January 18th, 2007
The Sycamores lost their second game in a row 74-68.
I did not go to the game since I was putting my pages together for Wednesday, so check those out.
By looking at the box score, the first thing that grabs my attention is that junior guard Gabe Moore played in all 40 minutes of the game. This means head coach Royce Waltman did not have the faith the Sycamores could score or defend without him on the floor. Moore does not mind playing these kinds of minutes because he is such a leader, but this has to be wearing on his body. He is averaging over 30 minutes per game. That could wear down anybody. Moore scored nine points, recorded three rebounds and nine assists.
This was supposed to be a win the Sycamores could grab and get their confidence back after losing to Bradley Saturday. The win improves the Drake Bulldogs to 2-6 in the Missouri Valley Conference and puts them in ninth position in the conference standings.
It seems the Sycamores need to have the lead at half to win the game since they are 8-0 when leading at halftime and lost this game after trailing 35-32 at the break. The simple explanation for this is that the team is young and the players can get down on themselves if they do not do well early in the game.
The loss drops the Sycamores to 4-3 in the Missouri Valley Conference and third place in the standings.
This conference sure is exciting.
Be sure to drink your ovaltine,
Ben Corn
January 13th, 2007
GAMETIME! 1-13-07 men’s b-ball v. Bradley final
By on January 13th, 2007
Final score:76-59 with Bradley coming out on top.
Ok, it’s later now, so here’s the rest of the blog.
The Sycamores need to learn from this game. It is just one loss, but it is a Valley loss and Valley losses are huge. Luckily, it is early and they have plenty of time to climb back up in the standings.
The pace of this game was set early. The Sycamores were unable to break the Bradley zone and the three-point shots were not falling. As junior guard Gabe Moore said, they fell in love with the three-point shot. The Sycamores shot 26 three-pointers and made five of them which translates to 19.2 percent.
I characterize the shooting of Bradley as Gilbert Arenas-esque in the way they could shoot from anywhere with anybody defending them and drain it. A prime example of this came with 1:57 left in the second half when the game was well in hand by Bradley. Bradley guard Will Franklin shot an NBA-range three-pointer on the left wing and was heavily-guarded and fouled by Sycamore freshman guard Harry Marshall and threw up the ball and it hit nothing but the bottom of the net. This was just Bradley’s night.
One thing that annoyed me during the game was a Bradley guy (I don’t know if he was a fan or someone important) on press row. I was on the third row next to him and he kept shaking the ground under my table. He tried to restrain his excitement, which I appreciate, but it is ridiculous that he should get excited about the second dunk in two minutes at the 1:20 mark in the second half by Bradley forward Zach Andrew with Bradley up by 20 points. Maybe I just have sour grapes.
I guess I’m rooting for the Patriots now so that the Colts get a home game. Ech.
January 13th, 2007
GAMETIME! 1-13-07 men’s b-ball v. Bradley halftime
By on January 13th, 2007
The score at the half is 22-37 in favor of the Bradley Braves.
I think the only thing the fans here at Hulman Center have really cheered about is when the announcer announced the Colts won.
This game has not gone the Sycamores’ way at all so far. ISU just cannot hit a shot and are having trouble getting the ball inside to the post players.
The biggest problem the Sycamores are having right now, though, is the fact that junior guard Gabe Moore has two fouls. He had to sit out the last four minutes of the half and the ISU offense stagnated in that period of time. At times it seemed like the Sycamores had no play set and were just playing intramural basketball. I’ll tell you what: this is not a team that can win by playing isolation.
Currently, the Braves are shooting 60 percent from behind the three-point line while the Sycamores are shooting 20 percent from downtown.
I think the student section is stunned about the score because they have not moved at the break, there is no way they are all that interested in little kids shooting at a small basketball hoop, which is the halftime entertainment.
Check in to see if the Sycamores can make the comeback,
Ben Corn
January 13th, 2007
GAMETIME! 1-13-07 men’s b-ball v. Bradley pre-game
By on January 13th, 2007
Well, I got torn away from my TV screen and I made it on-time to Hulman Center.
This game should be almost as exciting as the Colts game, anyway. Indiana State (11-4, 4-1 MVC) is going for a 10-0 record at home. Speaking of home court advantage, I have no clue what kind of turnout there will be tonight. On one hand, it could be good because of the buzz surrounding the team. On the other hand, the NFL playoffs is probably going to make some people stay at home.
Bradley is 3-3 in the MVC and 12-6 overall. Bradley has lost to UNI, Missouri State and Wichita State in the Valley.
Bradley is 42-23 in the all-time series against ISU, if you care about useless stats.
This is not going to be an easy game at all for ISU, so they will have to be prepared to play hard for 40 minutes. I think the home cooking will help, though, like it has all season.
Come back at halftime to see the score and my thoughts.
January 13th, 2007
GAMETIME! 1-13-07 women’s b-ball v. Wichita St. final
By on January 13th, 2007
This game was just what the Sycamores needed.
It showed what the Sycamores are made of. After losing three straight, the Sycamores jumped on the Shockers and never let up. Even in the last few minutes of the game when the Sycamores put the substitutes in the game, they were able to maintain the pressure. Junior guard Anne Thatcher, who has played 19 minutes all season, played 12 minutes at the end of the game and hit two threes that made the crowd erupt with cheers of “Way to go, Anne.” It’s nice to see the fans getting behind her after she sat out last season with a medical redshirt.
Wichita State’s leading scorer this season, Antoinette Wells was suspended for the game after an altercation in Thursday’s game against the Illinois State Redbirds. As Wichita State head coach Jane Albright put it, “We probably got (ISU) on the worst possible night and they probably got us on the best possible night.”
The thing that caught my eye about the game was the hustle by ISU. The Sycamores got three offensive rebounds off free throws, and they were balls that the Sycamores had to chase down.
The Shockers committed 24 turnovers, which shows the great defense the Sycamores kept throughout the game. The Sycamores also stole the ball 14 times, freshman guard Kelsey Luna had five of them.
Check in later tonight for updates during the men’s basketball game against Bradley at Hulman Center.
-Ben Corn
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